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Do-it-Youself SEO

I mentioned this in a post some time ago but for those wanting to learn SEO the proper way from a master, I am three weeks into a course from Freshbananas.co.uk and I am really impressed.

Ray Field, who wrote the course, did a lot of work on two of our sites in 2012 and 2013. We have had the usual problems with SEO companies in the past - being charged week after week for site optimization, link work, etc., only to discover much later that Google penalized us heavily because of the way the work was done. So, we were pretty anxious when Ray started, especially as, at £450 per day, plus the cost of new links, plus the cost of disavowing hundreds of links to keep Google happy, it was the most we have ever spent on just about anything!

After just two or three days our sites started to rise up the ranks for some keywords, and after a couple of weeks business was really on the up. Many keywords on the first page of Google and a few at the number one spot, one of which is still hovering between position one and two 12 months later and is still bringing in lots of sales.

So, three weeks into the course, which costs £250, and our newest site is doing really well. I don't know if it will do as well as the previous two sites but at a cost of £250, compared to around £35,000, it looks promising.

I can't stress how good this course is, it's cheap, it is aimed at the layperson and it is also highly recommended by many people on ukbusinessforums.co.uk. Forgive me if this is too much like advertising but I get nothing for it and it really is too good to miss.

It would be interesting to know what your level of SEO knowledge was before the course and, without giving too much away, any examples of what you have learnt, both onsite and offsite, from the course so that I can understand if the course is worth it to me. I am looking to revive my enjoyment of SEO but I would like to channel my money to the right place.

SEO is a tricky game nowadays, I've been selling online for over 7 years and back then SEO was relatively easy, get your meta descriptions right, add a few backlinks and up you went, now there are so many other contributing factors and any kind of black or even grey hat in Google's eyes scares me and I've really not done anything in terms of SEO on our site for a long time. I used to enjoy it but, maybe with the increase in online shops, getting on page one let along position one is getting harder and harder.

Anyway if you could give away a little bit more info on this course it would be gratefully appreciated.

As I said in the original post Ian, "Ray Field, who wrote the course, did a lot of work on two of our sites in 2012 and 2013". He is so conscientious that he feels he has to explain and justify every step of the SEO process, so I learned much more than I ever wanted to about most of what was involved. One important fact I learned is the need to be so, I hesitate to use the word anal, but conscientious, picky, boringly exacting, they all describe Ray's attitude, as he will readily admit! I now see that SEO has to be a long, slow process, for which I just don't have the patience.

On a few occasions we asked if he could speed up the process, or increase the link building, but he flatly refused to consider anything other than white hat.

One of our sites is supplementplace.co.uk and our best-selling product is Golden Root. A Google search has shown it to be in position 1 or 2 for the last two and a half years and no further SEO has been done since then.

I'm Ray, the guy behind the Fresh Bananas course. I noticed your question regarding a discount for Blueparkers, so thought it best to join in and answer that point.

Yes, we'll happily give a generous discount to Blueparkers so for those of you interested, drop us an email at hello@freshbananas.co.uk and mention this thread on here and we'll give you a code to use during checkout which will help.

I joined the course a couple of weeks ago.. it's very comprehensive and informative and Ray offers support during the course, which is really helpful. It does need a lot of your time but it is well thought out and I'm making a lot of small changes to my site, which hopefully will make a large difference.
Ray goes above and beyond to help you get your head round the course and makes sure you understand what need to be done.. It's definitely worth the money.

Having completed the course I can also highly recommend it, and whole heartedly agree with what Zoe has written. The course is well written and easy to read, which is helpful as it contains loads of information. Ray is extremely helpful and patient too. I have revisited the course content on numerous times following 'thinking' I had completed it and you really do pick up more things each time.

Previous to starting the course I had a good awareness of SEO and it's importance, though have never paid for anyone to SEO our site. I was aware of some of the aspects held within the course, but before starting felt very vague and uncertain about most of them, and how to actually do these 'SEO type things' the correct way, questioned if they were really worth while if you weren't fully qualified, and had had a dabble but with no real results. Ray and his course have given us confidence to commit changes to our site, invest proper time in SEO, and ironed out many of those grey areas.

Added to this we have already seen some positive movement in the first page we have 'SEO'd' since doing the course.

Hmmmmm... just checked this out and the course is now 495 + VAT. A bit more than a month ago.

Hi there

Just thought you might like an update.

Yes, I had put the price of the course up because bundled in with the price was a number of hours of free consultancy from myself to the member. Because I've worked with a number of Bluepark customers and I know how good their system is I had been giving a £100 discount off course price to BP customers. The bad news is that this discount has now stopped but the good news is that I've introduced a budget priced version of the course.

Anyone who might have been interested can now get full course access for just £99 but it does not have the free consultancy built into it.

Thanks to all of you who've commented that you like the course, much appreciated

I just have to stick my nose in here. The course was £495, which I thought was far too low for the expertise it contains, now it is £99! Not very much for the distillation of around 20 years knowledge from the man often mentioned on the UK Business Forums as the best SEO in the business.

One of our key phrases worked on by Ray has been at Google number one for several years now, there is some hefty competition for it, but we are still there, and it brings us in around £150,000 in sales every year. The SEO for our site cost about £35,000 in total, a real bargain as it turned out, but you can now buy the same for £99

I signed up to the Fresh Bananas course about 5 weeks ago and have been working through my site ready for a complete relaunch in a couple of weeks time. Ray has kindly provided me with two one-to-one sessions which have been extremely valuable. Even though I paid the higher price with the BP discount, I have to say the expertise in the course is excellent and its all been well worth the money. Even if you consider that you are experienced at SEO, this course has insight and gems in it that just aint covered out on the usual blogs like MOZ etc. At £99 this is an absolute bargain - grab it quick!

I have also signed up for this course, and am now beginning to get my head round the whole subject. Ray is adept at making quite complicated concepts seem understandable for us laymen, and - like all good teachers - calls a spade a spade when he has to, and knows when to send you back three lessons just to remind you of something vital. I am sure this course is worth every penny, and I'm not on commission! Go for it if you can.

Just been looking at this course and there are a few options. £99 is for the basic option of just the course with 3 months access. There are other options that involve 1 to 1 mentoring support hours and access to the forum. Has anyone got this option? Just trying to figure out which is best.

We've had some success with Cart Angel which helps enormously with content, but could use more heavy-hitting SEO. We'll give these guys a go.

We are new to BP and have just re-built our shop using BPs basic templates as a starting point. We think we've been careful with basic SEO. However, from what MDJO says, we may be in for another re-build!

Hi
Now please please please do not think i'm knocking the course, ive not used it so who am I to say its not worth it and £99 in the grand scheme of things is nothing BUT. I have never paid for any SEO for my site yet we rank on page one of google for pretty much anything to do with our business and pretty much always on page one if you type in a product name. Taking into account there are many retailers who sell the same products etc why is it we do so well... Well maybe its the BP platform, maybe its because we make up our own content, maybe its just the simple basics re SEO that anyone can find out about. I personally think its because we have stuck to a niche part of our trade...
Maybe i'm just a SEO genius but I didn't know it...
I would love to know anyone else thoughts...www.inflatabletentsonline.co.uk

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